We move into the (relatively) contemporary Country Music field with "Jingle Bells," stopping in 1997 with the cassette-only release "Wrangler Cowboy Christmas Volume V" from Universal Music Special Markets.
It's hard for me to believe that 1997 was 25 years ago, but the math doesn't lie! I guess the fact that cassettes were still being issued at that time also tells the tale!
That was also early in the whole Internet deal, with most people still not having home computers, but it was all growing fast!
1997 saw the fifth volume of the "Wrangler Cowboy Christmas" series, which were promo cassettes sponsored by the famous jeans (dungarees?) company. I don't really know how they were originally issued, but I hadn't come across any of the series before Volume V, which I was able to purchase online!
This had me thinking that the Internet was the greatest thing ever! And I stand by that statement!
The Wrangler series rounded up (cowboy talk!) various tracks from prior releases from the MCA family of labels and Volume V featured a version of "Jingle Bells" by Tracy Byrd, the popular neo-Western Swing singer, who had recorded it as a one-off for MCA for a previous compilation:
I like that a lot! You can never go wrong with a Western Swing beat!
Tracy also had another Christmas single with an even more pronounced Western Swing arrangement with 1999's "Merry Christmas from Texas Y'all" on MCA:
That one's been on my Country Christmas playlist since it came out!
Tracy Byrd's most obvious influence is George Strait - my favorite - who has cast a large shadow on the Country Music scene since the early 1980s.
The Wrangler series always had a cut from George (naturally) and Volume V featured the great swing number "When It's Christmas Time in Texas":
That was originally featured on George's 1986 MCA release "Merry Christmas Strait to You!" which was his first Christmas album and holds up well!
Mr. Strait cut his version of "Jingle Bells" for his third Christmas album, "Fresh Cut Christmas" in 2006:
We could be here all day listening to great George Strait Christmas records!
Another county superstar, Alan Jackson, was featured on Volume V with his terrific version of "A Holly Jolly Christmas":
I think that record is absolutely brilliant! It's one of my favorite holiday records of all time!
It was first released as part of the soundtrack for 1992's "Home Alone 2" and I bought a cassette of that soundtrack just to have this cut!
Alan has also released a lot of great Christmas music and he recorded his version of "Jingle Bells" for his 2002 album "Let It Be Christmas" (his second Christmas album) on Arista Nashville:
That's another fun swingy arrangement, with some horns added in!
Christmas and Country Music have always seemed to work well together and these artists with their traditional roots keep it going!
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